36 THE BLUE TITMOUSE 



of a duller yellowish-brown colour. The nest is built in a crevice 

 of an old ivied wall, a hedgebank and various other places, and is 

 made of moss and leaves, and lined with feathers. The eggs are 

 five or six, pale grey in colour, profusely marked with reddish spots. 

 The food consists of worms, small slugs and other mollusca, parti- 

 cularly the eggs, also larvae of ground insects, varied with fruit in 

 season. It is very fond of currants and cherries, also grapes, often 

 entering late vineries pecking and spoiling the berries. Indeed 

 there is little of the " babes in the wood " tale instinct in the red- 

 breast, its disposition being extremely pugnacious to its own. mem- 

 bers ; but the bird's familiar habits with mankind, marked for selfish- 

 ness, though its confidence, render it a general favourite. 

 The BLUE TITMOUSE (Parus ccemleus), Fig. 30, included in the 



FIG. 30. THE BLUE TITMOUSE. 



Dentirostes section of insessorial birds and sub-family Paring, 

 is about 4J in. in length. The wings and tail are blue, breast and 

 belly sulphur-yellow, back yellowish-green, and side of the head 

 white with a blue band running across it from the beak to the nape. 

 In winter the blue-tits are semi-gregarious and generally distributed 

 throughout Britain. Pairing in spring, the nest is made in holes in 

 trees, walls, gateposts, pumps, and other singular places, of moss, 



